Texas Solar Capacity Hits Peak

In 2022, Texas led the country in the amount of solar capacity added to the grid for the first time in history. The Lone Star State added 1,664 MW of solar capacity from 2021 to 2022, eclipsing California who added 1,308 MW during the same time period according to a report from Climate Central’s Weather Power. Texas also saw the largest jump in solar generation from 2021 to 2022 (6,252,720 MWh), once again besting California (4,722,732 MWh).

Texas is poised to ascend up the solar charts even more this year. According to the Energy Information Administration (EIA), Texas is on pace to add 7.7 GW of solar capacity in 2023 – the most in the country – while California will add 4.2 GW. By themselves, the two states will account for 41% of new solar capacity this year in the United States.

Photo Source: Energy Information Administration (EIA)

The rich oil fields in West Texas and the oil refineries that dot the state’s Gulf Coast have been a fixture of the state’s landscape – and economy – for generations. As solar energy continues its ascension in Texas there are clear signs that the fossil fuels industry is losing its vise grip on the state. Fossil fuels-related jobs in Texas have fallen steadily over the past few years, from over 344,000 in 2019 to just over 265,000 in 2021.

Public Opinion Shifts in Favor of Clean Energy

As the trendlines for the solar industry and the fossil fuels industry move in opposite directions in the state, the mood of your average Texan is also markedly shifting. Two years after Winter Storm Uri crippled the state’s largely fossil fuels-dependent grid system, a clear majority of Texans now favor a shift to renewable energy production.

Photo Source: University of Houston Hobby School of Public Affairs

According to survey findings from the University of Houston’s Hobby School of Public Affairs, 64% of Texans favor expanding the nation’s reliance on solar energy. Meanwhile, just 42% of respondents favor expanding U.S. reliance on natural gas fired power plants, 35% favor expanding reliance on fracking for oil and natural gas, and 27% favor expanding reliance on coal mining and coal fired power plants.

Texans also strongly favored other solar-specific policies, including overwhelming support (90%) for net-metering legislation and for tax incentives for homeowners and businesses to install rooftop solar panels and battery storage (82% in favor).

Anti-Renewables Lawmakers Intervene

Instead of embracing Texas’ rising stature as a national leader in solar capacity and embracing the bounty of economic benefits that come with that, opportunistic state politicians are instead seeking to stem the tide by propping up the state’s fossil fuels industry.

Texas’ rise up the utility-scale solar ranks is poised to grind to a halt after the Texas Senate recently approved S.B. 624. The bill ranks up there as one of the most anti-renewables bills ever seen. It is riddled with punitive measures specifically designed to cripple the state’s solar and wind industries. Here is a sampling of the measures in the bill:

Photo Source: CNN

The bill now heads to the GOP-controlled House for consideration before it ends up on Gov. Abbott’s desk to potentially become law. This nakedly punitive and partisan piece of legislation that singles out a whole industry flies in the face of the laissez faire posture the state has long had to development, especially energy development.

The irony of this moment is striking. Texas was blessed with oil and gas resources that helped catapult its economy to new heights during the “Oil Boon” era about 100 years ago. A similar combination of steady winds and extended sunlight exposure have helped the state dominate in a new energy era as tens of thousands of jobs and billions of dollars of corporate investment in solar and wind projects flow to the state during the present era of rapid clean energy growth. Instead of supporting this promising economic opportunity, Texas legislators beholden to the fossil fuels industry donor class seem hellbent on stifling this growth with burdensome regulations.

Hopefully rationality can once again take root in the Texas legislature and the free market – not emotional politicians – can once again guide the state’s energy policy. S.B. 624 sets a bad precedent that Texas can’t allow to become the new normal.

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A Nascent Industry Finding its Footing

Even by the most optimistic of outlooks, Kentucky’s solar industry is just barely beginning its growth journey. As of 2020, the state could lay claim to having 59.53 MW of cumulative installed solar capacity, a figure that was good for a rather humbling ranking of 48th out of the 50 U.S. states. A meager 0.1% of the state’s electricity was generated from solar sources.

For perspective, the leading solar state in the country, California, had 31,288 MW of cumulative installed solar capacity in 2020, and just under 23% of the state’s electricity was generated from solar.

Kentucky’s position relative to its peers may not be overly impressive, but the trendline is clear. Just 10 short years ago Kentucky had basically no installed solar capacity (0.2 MW). The SEIA projects that the state may clear 845 MW of installed capacity by as soon as 2025, as costs continue to plummet and favorable pro-solar policies entrench themselves at the state level.

Turning Lemons into Lemonade

In a strange twist of irony, the prospects of the state of Kentucky’s solar industry may rest in the coalfields that have anchored the state’s energy production capabilities – and cultural identity – for generations.

Carbon offsets are a popular way for corporations pursuing sustainability goals to achieve the “net” in their net-zero emissions goals. Carbon offsets essentially work as credits that companies can leverage to offset operations that are otherwise not carbon neutral. Kentucky’s nascent solar industry positions the state well to benefit from these offsets, given the state’s still heavy reliance on fossil fuels. About 73% of the state’s electricity generated in 2019 came from coal. Carbon offsets can be quicker to achieve and be far more impactful in a place like Kentucky, as opposed to say just building another solar farm in California.

Kentucky’s hundreds of thousands of acres of coalfields (many of which are abandoned) represent an interesting adaptive reuse opportunity for solar developers. Just last month, the state of Kentucky unveiled a web-based tool to make it easier for solar developers to site arrays on reclaimed mine lands in the state.

Kentucky’s eastern most county – Pike County – will soon be the home to one such solar array which will be affixed to land that formerly operated as a coal mine. First announced in 2017, the solar array will occupy 700 acres on a former strip mine on Kentucky’s Bent Mountain and it will consist of over half a million solar panels. Global auto manufacturing giant, Toyota, is partnering on the solar project and providing a critical boost to the economics of the project by committing to a 15 to 20-year power purchase agreement (PPA).

Photo Source: RH Group

Renewables-Minded Corporations Providing Momentum

Unlike more established state solar markets, residential solar is not a primary driver of solar growth in Kentucky. Installed residential solar capacity has ticked up in recent years, but it still barely registers as a blip on the radar with regards to the state’s overall solar capacity. A somewhat humorous example of this is this story from earlier in the year highlighting a Tesla solar rooftop owner in Louisville who is the only Tesla solar roof homeowner within 500 miles of Louisville.

Photo Source: SEIA

Kentucky’s recent solar success and promising future is owed mainly to the growing number of major corporations with ambitious renewable energy goals that are committing to power purchase agreements (PPA) for solar farms in the state.

In May, Acciona Energy got the greenlight from regulators to build a 188-MW solar farm, one of multiple that the company plans to build to serve the needs of Amazon. Acciona and Amazon inked a deal last December committing Amazon to buy 641 MW of electricity from multiple solar arrays in Kentucky, Ohio, and Illinois. In March, the Tennessee Valley Authority made public their plans to develop a 173 MW solar-plus-storage project just outside of Bowling Green, KY that would power a nearby data center for Facebook and a nearby production facility for General Motors. Meanwhile, Dow and Toyota are the beneficiaries of a 100-MW solar farm just south of Louisville that is expected to be commercially operational next year.

Industry Gets Major Jolt from Recent Ruling

The days of Kentucky’s residential solar market largely taking a backseat to the state’s overall solar picture may be numbered, though, thanks to a pivotal state ruling expected to give the residential market a major jolt in the arm.

Just a couple months ago, Kentucky’s Public Service Commission (PSC) released a precedent setting ruling on net metering that greatly favors residential solar users. The PSC ruling tabbed the offset for excess electricity sent back to the grid by solar users at $0.09/Kwh, which was 3 times higher than the $0.03/Kwh level that Kentucky Power – a utility company serving 100,000+ households in Eastern Kentucky – was advocating for.

Prior to this recent ruling, Kentucky solar homeowners were credited for every Kwh of energy that was sent back to the grid and Kentucky Power sold that excess energy to neighboring utilities for the retail price of $0.11/Kwh. When Kentucky Power proposed their latest rate hike, the utility company tried to lower that compensation rate significantly, which among other things, would have significantly stunted growth prospects for the state’s resident solar market.

The PSC wasn’t having it. It is worth noting what a relief (and surprise) the PSC’s ruling was. Kentucky Power has long been a thorn in the side for Kentucky’s solar industry, and public policy victories and favorable regulator rulings have been hard to come by for Kentucky’s solar advocates. The PSC’s ruling ensures that the financial incentives for solar homeowners remain strong in Kentucky, just like they are in so many other U.S. states.

It will be worth following where Kentucky’s solar industry goes from here. The PSC’s ruling on net metering, the growing interest in corporate PPAs in the state, the expansive development opportunities on old coal mines, and the constantly improving solar economics in the state vis-à-vis coal all combine to put a lot of wind at the sails of the state’s nascent solar industry.

The proof will be in the pudding, but the symbolism is clear – the benefits of solar energy are breaking through in the heart of coal country.

Cover Photo Source: Inside Climate News

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Arizona Voters Say No to 50% RPS Goal

At the November polls, Arizona voters overwhelming voted down Proposition 127, which would’ve created a constitutional amendment to increase the state’s Renewable Portfolio Standards (RPS) goals, requiring utilities to purchase or generate 50% of their electricity from renewable energy sources by 2030. As of 2018, Arizona already has an RPS goal of 15% renewable by 2025, fairly typical for western states, so Prop 127 would’ve pushed the utilities into overdrive while attempting to meet those 2030 goals.

The proposition was supported by the local Sierra Club and a handful of other organizations, and was initiated and mainly funded by the non-profit NextGen Climate Action, founded by California billionaire Tom Steyer and which provided over $22 million to the Arizona cause.

Considering the tenuous relationship Arizona utilities have had with solar energy in the past, it’s no surprise that both sides spent millions on the initiative. In fact, Prop 127 was the most expensive ballot measure in Arizona history, with Pinnacle West Capital – the company that owns APS, the largest utility in the state – spending almost $30 million in opposition to the bill.

Opponents argued the proposition, forced on Arizona by out-of-state political interests, could lead to higher customer bills. Proponents, however, argued the higher goals would lead to a cleaner environment and stronger local economy as solar costs continue to lower and the industry grows.

In a November press release after the bill was defeated, APS called the measure ‘ill-conceived’, with Chairman and CEO Don Brandt noting:

The campaign is over, but we want to continue the conversation with Arizonans about clean energy and identify specific opportunities for APS to build energy infrastructure that will position Arizona for the future.

APS has come out in favor of a different clean energy goal, proposed by the Arizona Corporation Commission. This plan creates a target of 80% clean energy, including nuclear power, by 2050. One of APS’ issues with Proposition 127 was that it didn’t allow nuclear energy to meet the RPS goals and APS feared they would’ve had to shut down their Palo Verde nuclear generator, which accounts for about 25% of the utility’s total generation. The utility claimed the defeated proposition was too constraining and simply not designed for Arizona’s specific needs.

Nevada Says Yes to RPS Goals, No to Deregulation

In Nevada, Steyer’s NextGen Climate Action also funded the inclusion of a similar measure on the ballot, Question 6. Under this proposal, Nevada will increase their RPS mandate from the current 25% by 2025 to 50% by 2030, the same as proposed in Arizona.

Unlike in Arizona, Nevada voters actually passed this measure, with 59% of voters approving. Proposed constitutional amendments, however, need to be approved in two separate elections before becoming law, so Question 6 will need to be approved in the 2020 election again. Exactly how that will go is anyone’s guess, but it’s a necessary – and promising – first step.

Nevadans also voted on another energy-related bill, Question 3, though this one was stopped in its tracks, with 67% of voters in opposition. Question 3 asked voters whether they were in favor of breaking apart Nevada utilities’ monopoly on electricity generation in the state and replacing it with a competitive electricity market, known as a deregulated electricity market and similar to Texas, Illinois, Ohio, and 16 other states. The map below, from the 2016 NREL report linked to previously, highlights the states that allow most energy consumers to choose their electricity provider.

Image via NREL, 2016

Nevada utilities currently hold a monopoly on both the generation of electricity as well as the distribution of that electricity to homes and businesses. If voters had approved Question 3, the state would’ve ended utilities’ monopoly on electricity generation, thereby allowing homeowners and businesses to choose their electricity provider. Utilities however would’ve held on to their monopoly on distribution, retaining ownership of the infrastructure as well as the responsibility to move that electricity to consumers.

While not specifically concerning clean energy, proponents argued that deregulating the electricity market gives consumers greater options in regards to their energy, giving them the ability to purchase clean energy if they so choose.

Voters’ apparent flip-flop isn’t too surprising. While voters initially approved the bill in 2016, Nevada’s unique laws require a 2^nd vote to amend the state constitution. Approving a constitutional amendment the first time is a low-risk situation. The second go-around though, the stakes are higher and NV Energy, the state’s biggest electric utility, spent $62 million campaigning against the bill. The bills biggest supporters, Data center Switch and Las Vegas Sands, on the other hand, jointly provided a substantial, but underwhelming, $32 million.

Carbon Fee Voted Down in Washington

Image via Pexels

Moving to the Pacific Northwest, voters in Washington once again voted down a clean energy bill on the November ballot. Initiative 1631 would’ve placed a fee on carbon emissions from both large-scale carbon emitters as well as on fossil fuels and electricity generated or brought into the state.

Proponents of the measure included Bill Gates and Washington governor Jay Inslee, who voiced his support during the scourge of wildfires wreaking havoc on the state’s air quality in the summer of 2018:

Today, this smoke be opaque. But when it comes to children’s health, it has made something very clear, and that is the state of Washington needs to pass this clean air initiative, so these children can breathe clean air. They deserve that. The significance of this is profound.

That support wasn’t enough though, and 57% of voters voted against the initiative.

The fee would’ve started at $15 per metric ton in 2020, increasing by $2/ton each year until greenhouse gas reduction goals were met in 2035. A handful of states have already proposed carbon taxes, including Maryland, New York, Vermont, and Maine, but so far none have yet been approved.

This is actually the 2^nd carbon tax Washington voters have voted down, defeating a similar initiative in 2016. Having voted down a carbon tax on both of the last two ballots, Washington voters clearly aren’t ready for a carbon tax yet, though with the opposition – led by the Western States Petroleum Association – spending $31 million on the cause, about twice as much as supporters’ $15 million, it’s no surprise the measure didn’t pass.

Things look a bit rosier on the federal level though, as Democrats now control the House and a handful, like Sean Casten in Illinois, specifically campaigned on a clean energy and emissions reduction platform. And even though our carbon emissions have actually continued to decrease despite President Trump attempting to roll back environmental policies, support for these policies on the federal level is still necessary to push clean energy forward in the United States. With this new majority in the House, hopefully we’ll see new environmental and clean energy legislation in the near future.

Image Credits: CC license via Pexels: 1, 2

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Researchers from MIT  shared their vision for the Utility of the Future, where a decentralized, “self healing” grid would replace the heap of old wires we have today. New business models would materialize if only regulators would accept total market transformation. These pronouncements fill the pages of Wired Magazine and give us something to chat about at cocktail parties, while the real future is quietly unfolding right under our noses in Colorado.

MIT’s Utility of the Future study, published in December 2016.

Tucked away in unexceptional office buildings and dated municipalities, Xcel Energy, a legacy utility with a boring dress code and a century old business model, is working alongside policy makers, public utility commissioners, and engaged stakeholders, to transform the State’s power grid. In an effort similar to Germany’s Energiewende, Colorado is on track to meet 55% of its electricity supply with renewable energy by 2026, and reduce CO₂ emissions by 60% below 2005 levels over the same period.  They are pulling this off without significant rate hikes to consumers or disruptions to reliability. This energy transition is challenging long standing assumptions on the economics and technical feasibility of a carbon free grid. Where it is headed offers a far more tangible carbon free energy future than any proclamation has yet offered.

Background on Colorado’s Energy Transition

Xcel Energy’s commitment to energy transition was not a unilateral proclamation. It came about as a response to customer demand. In 2011, residents of the City of Boulder voted in favor of a ballot to divorce itself from Xcel Energy and establish its own municipal utility. As one ballot supporter stated, “They [Xcel] don’t have our interests at heart,” referring to the portfolio of coal assets that Xcel continued to operate, and that comprised 57% of it’s portfolio at the time. This initiated a 6-year process of joint working-groups and often adversarial negotiations. Among the issues that needed to be resolved was the transfer of assets from Xcel to Boulder.

Throughout the rounds of negotiations, public hearings, PUC filings and even a lawsuit that proceed, the City of Boulder offered Xcel several opportunities to “partner” with the city, including asking that Xcel reduce the price of wind power for Boulder customers and remove a cap on wind generated south of Boulder.

Part of Xcel’s Cherokee Generating Station is a 928 MW Coal Plant outside of Denver.

Under the specter of more customers following Boulder’s lead, Xcel Energy submitted a new Electricity Resource Plan (EPC) in 2016, changing its posture, and adopting a commitment to “better serve our customers across the state…” by “keeping your energy costs low” and to “deliver increasingly cleaner energy…” In August 2016, CPUC approved a series of filings whereby Xcel would move forward with programs that offered customers greater resource diversity and access to renewables, while removing the transmission premiums that it had levied on renewable power. This met more customer demand for renewables, and it established conditions that would make municipalization an even less feasible option for customers seeking affordable, clean energy.

In 2017 Xcel unveiled its proposed Colorado Energy Plan (CEP), laying out a more defined roadmap to meet rising energy demand with more renewable energy and lower carbon emissions, at rates that still undercut the national average. Xcel laid identified three clear goals: 1) increase total production to meet growing demand; 2) meet 55% of its total supply with renewable energy by 2026; 3) reduce emissions to 60% below 2005 levels, also by 2026. To get there, Xcel plans on cutting its coal power supply by 30% and reducing 50% of it’s natural gas generation. As a first step, the CEP requested approval to retire place 700 MW of coal powered generation in early retirement, and replace that capacity with wind and solar power. As additional coal plant move to retirement beyond 2026, Xcel believes that it will be on the road to achieve a zero carbon portfolio.

Source: Western Resource Advocates

In early 2018, Xcel received 350 proposals for solar and wind projects, many of which included energy storage. The median prices offered for wind, solar, and combined storage projects all fell sharply below the lowest documented prices previously offered anywhere else in the US, and they significantly undercut coal and natural gas.

This past August, CPUC gave final approval for Xcel’s CEP. In moving forward with its plan, Xcel will move to invest $2.5 billion to add over 1,100 megawatts of wind generation, more than 700 megawatts of solar generation, and 275 megawatts of battery storage onto Colorado’s grid. Xcel will also retire the Comanche 1 and 2 coal plants, comprising 700 MW of existing capacity, a decade early. Despite this lofty investment, Xcel is promising to save money for the rate payers. The CEP outlines $200 Million in anticipated savings for Colorado ratepayers. Decommissioning coal plants and operating lower cost resources offsets the burden of the associated capital investment. Furthermore, Xcel anticipates that it will drive further savings by avoiding compliance costs for anticipated emissions regulations as it moves to downsize its coal fleet.

Xcel Energy’s phased plan to increase resource diversity and lower carbon in its generation portfolio.

As Xcel Energy takes on bold moves for a regulated utility, Colorado’s biggest cities and counties are upping the ante even higher. At least ten of the state’s most populous and prominent regions have set 100% renewable energy goals, most of which are set to be achieved by 2030, and none of them any later than 2035. As one executive from excel put it, “We will eventually have a zero carbon power grid. Xcel would rather lead in that direction, than get dragged there.” With so much customer demand, Colorado provides a unique foothold for Xcel to assume that leadership.

Turning Customers into Allies and Taking Advantage of the Stakeholder Brain Trust

During the rounds of public hearings and back room meetings between Xcel Energy and the City of Boulder, the latter gained volunteer support from a team of experts, including researchers from National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) and University of Colorado. These experts assisted Boulder in assessing the cost and technical feasibility of various generation portfolios. The team, referred to as “RenewablesYES!”, provided Boulder with a roadmap to double its renewable energy supply, halve its carbon intensity and “greatly reduce other forms of fossil fuel-related pollution at rates that would meet or beat Xcel’s.”

Through ongoing rounds of negotiation, public hearings, a lawsuit, and PUC filings, citizen leadership in the technical review process influenced Xcel’s process of evaluating its own portfolio. This helped Xcel fuel its own effort to devise a more ambitious renewable energy roadmap, and likely contributed to the partnerships that it formed with renewable energy and environmental advocacy groups. These many of these groups aided Xcel in formulating the CEP, and that have been strong supporters of Xcel’s efforts in front of CPUC.

Xcel intelligently turned its proceedings with Boulder into an opportunity to draw a new relationship with the stakeholder groups that would be difficult opposition if they were not key allies. In its 2017 CEP filing, Xcel listed numerous renewable energy coalitions, consumer advocacy groupd, and even energy think tanks that participated in the plan formulation. The Western Resources Advocates was one of the major partners.

Cities and counties across Colorado are seeking to go 100% renewable.

Firm Renewable Power Beats Natural Gas

In January 2018, Xcel released the results of the All-Sources-Solicitation that it issued in late 2017. The response was striking. In contrast to the 55 responses that Xcel had received in its 2013 solicitation, this time around 430 bids were submitted, 350 of which were for solar and wind projects comprising 100 GW of total capacity. Over 100 of these proposed renewable projects included battery storage, comprising 27 GW of total capacity. In other words Xcel was looking at 27 GW of firm renewable energy, with the same dispatchability and load control as the traditional fossil fuel resources.

If that is not astounding enough, the game changer was in the costs that were proposed for these projects relative to Colorado’s existing fossil fuel resources. The median price offered for Solar + Storage came out to $36/MWh while Wind + Storage was offered at a median cost of $21.50/MWh. With natural gas selling at $40 – $60/MWh and the state’s coal power supply selling for even higher, Colorado is seeing a new reality unfold where renewable energy, made firm and dispatchable with battery storage, is technically and economically scalable, even in the most competitive power markets.

The Vertically Integrated Utility-of-the-People

Xcel’s guiding principles to working with partners such as municipalities and coops. Xcel has taken a tone that utilities operate best when planning is a multi-lateral activity taking place outside of formal regulatory hearings.

Energy market deregulation was intended to establish competitive markets that would stabilize, if not lower costs for rate-payers, while creating greater transparency. The data on whether or not deregulation helped achieve these goals is inconclusive. Natural gas has been a major factor in driving down the cost of electricity since 2005. The same market construct that enabled the rapid expansion of natural gas generation led to rapid growth in wind and solar power in these markets. That same mechanism, however, limits their continued scalability. As fossil fuels comprise a smaller portion of the resource mix, renewable energy generators must rely more and more on long term power-purchase-agreements to ensure that they will achieve a viable return. But wholesale markets are not going away any time soon, and a 10-year power purchase agreement does not make sense to most customers. The answer to this challenge falls back to benefits of regulation.

These truths lead to difficult questions about the chances of achieving grid transformation in deregulated markets. Colorado would not be on track to deliver on its 2026 goals were it not for the centralization of accountability and oversight that can only be promised by a vertically integrated utility. But owning the entire energy value stream is not enough. The challenges of energy transition require significant changes to the governance and planning culture of most regulated utilities in the US today. Again, Colorado is charging ahead to create this future.

Xcel took many lessons away from its experience with Boulder, and the utility institutionalized the way it works with cities, municipalities, and other governance organizations as a result. As cities like Denver, Longmont, Pueblo and Fort Collins have approved county-wide RPSs of 100% renewable energy by anywhere from 2020 to 2035, Xcel has opted to partner with them in achieving these goals, maintaining its role as their utility. According to Jaren Luner, a public policy analyst at Xcel Energy, when cities approach Xcel with a plan to meet 100% of their demand with renewables, “’No that’s now how it works’ isn’t an answer that is acceptable to our cities. We need to incorporate their goals into our resource planning.”

Why Look to Colorado?

Colorado is not the only state that set ambitious clean energy goals. California and Hawaii have both committed to achieve 100% renewable energy by 2045. They are seeing rapid growth in their renewable portfolios. In both states, however, rate payers are seeing their energy bills escalate to over 50% above the national average. In contrast, Xcel Energy met 28% of its Colorado energy supply with renewables last year. Its customers’ paid energy bills were an average of 33% below the national benchmark. The Colorado Energy Plan estimates that customers will continue to see savings, and by 2030, Colorado rate payers will save as much as $200 million.

An energy transition similar to Colorado, is necessary if we are going to collectively meet the emergent challenges of climate change, resource scarcity and infrastructure vulnerability. On the face of it, the US power grid is a regulatory jungle of balkanized markets and aging infrastructure, making massive transformation almost impossible. At closer look, Colorado may be the oracle that can providing a roadmap for other states to follow. What might that energy future look like?

The post Utility of the Future: Insights from Colorado’s Energy Transition appeared first on Solar Tribune.

Cumulative Solar Capacity by State

California continues to outpace rival states when it comes to cumulative solar capacity, boasting over 21,000 MW of solar capacity through 2017. North Carolina (4,308 MW), Arizona (3,400 MW), Nevada (2,595 MW), and New Jersey (2,390 MW) round out the top five.

Source: SEIA

#1 California

California is in rarefied air as the longtime leading solar market in the United States. The amount of cumulative solar capacity in California through 2017 (21,074 MW) is roughly the same as the rest of the next top 9 states combined (21,173 MW).

California may have the nation’s strongest solar market, but the state’s solar industry suffered significant job losses in 2017. This fact can be chalked up primarily to the very wet year the state experienced in 2017 with torrential rains early in the year being especially disruptive to planned solar projects. The adoption of new Time-of-Rate rates designed to shift energy consumption from consumers away from peak periods also put a damper on the residential PV market. Look for California’s solar industry to rebound in 2018.

Source: National Solar Jobs Census 2017, the Solar Foundation

#2 North Carolina

The abundance of utility-scale solar farms in North Carolina has helped to establish it as a top state for solar capacity for years. While the state’s utility-scale solar capacity continues to dominate, increased capacity in the residential and commercial markets are helping to solidify the Tar Heel State’s position as one of the best solar markets in the United States.

The solar industry in the Tar Heel State continues to be a major element of the state’s overall economy. From 2015 to 2017, the state’s solar industry grew by 28.1%, highest among the other top five states for solar capacity on our listing.

National Solar Jobs Census 2017, the Solar Foundation

#3 Arizona

Solar energy has long been popular in Arizona, but the implementation of a net metering charge in 2014 and the elimination of some incentives programs in recent years have brought turbulence to the state’s market. Still, more than half a million homes in Arizona are powered by solar energy and the industry’s future remains bright.

Solar jobs in Arizona have grown by a robust 21.1% since 2015. The growth has been most notable among solar installation jobs (+42.3%), an indication of how rapidly the state’s residential PV market has expanded in recent years.

Source: National Solar Jobs Census 2017, the Solar Foundation

#4 Nevada

Las Vegas may be most well-known for its casinos and entertainment venues, but it also happens to be one of the sunniest cities in the world, receiving over 3,800 hours of sunlight a year. The abundant sunshine in Nevada and its flat, arid landscape are ideal for utility-scale solar developments, while solar is an inherently appealing option for homeowners looking to cut high energy bills in this desert state.

The national headwinds that have stunted solar job growth across much of the country over the past year have been especially acute in Nevada. The state’s solar industry lost 1,807 jobs from 2016 to 2017, which was the third largest reduction in solar jobs by any state over the same time period. Recently passed net metering legislation is expected to reverse the negative trends that the state’s solar industry has seen in recent years.

National Solar Jobs Census 2017, the Solar Foundation

#5 New Jersey

New Jersey isn’t located in the heart of the Sun Belt like the other top solar states in the country, but the Garden State still has a thriving solar industry. The state’s history of supporting pro-solar policies initiatives like net metering, the SREC market, and a solar RPS have help to entrench New Jersey as one of the best states for solar in the country.

New Jersey is one of the few states that bucked the national trend and actually added solar jobs from 2016 to 2017. The state added 1,050 jobs in that time period, which was only behind Utah (+1,762), Minnesota (+1,383), and Arizona (+1,070).

National Solar Jobs Census 2017, the Solar Foundation

Cover photo source: www.fpl.com

The post The 5 States Making Solar Mainstream appeared first on Solar Tribune.

As the American solar industry waits anxiously to see if President Trump levies a tariff on Chinese solar panels, new solar installations continue to go up at a steady pace. Despite uncertainty on how the trade decision may effect panel prices in the years to come, both large-scale solar farms and indie rooftop solar projects just keep chugging along. One segment of the solar market that has been growing steadily is among lower-income residents and the organizations that address their needs. Once considered a luxury item for environmentally-conscious early adopters, more and more people in lower income brackets are discovering opportunities to take advantage of solar energy’s benefits, and cash-strapped charities are reducing their overhead costs through new solar programs.

NAACP Celebrates MLK Day with launch of National Solar Equity Initiative

In observance of the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Holiday and National Day of Service, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP)  launched its new partnership, the Solar Equity Initiative in Los Angeles at The Jenesse Center, the headquarters for a nationally recognized non-profit domestic violence prevention and intervention organization. Lifetime financial savings for the Jenesse Center are estimated to be approximately $48,825, which will enable Jenesse to infuse more funds into continuing its 35 years of services.

According to the NAACP, the project is a civil rights economic and environmental justice initiative designed to connect 30+ communities of color and low-income communities across the nation with solar energy infrastructure for homes and community centers, as well as skills training for solar jobs, all supported by strengthened solar equity policies. The NAACP has made a year-long commitment to provide solar job skills training to 100 individuals, installation of solar panels on 20 households and ten community centers, and strengthen equity in solar access policies in at least five states across the country.

“Underserved communities cannot be left behind in a clean energy transition,” said NAACP President and CEO Derrick Johnson. “Clean energy is a fundamental civil right which must be available to all, within the framework of a just transition.”

Along with the NAACP, partners in the Solar Equity Initiative include GRID Alternatives, the Solar Energy Industries Association, Sunrun, United Methodist Women, Vote Solar, and others.

photo: Everyday Energy

New California Program for Low-Income Solar

According to NextCity.org, the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) has approved the creation of the Solar on Multifamily Affordable Housing (SOMAH) program, which will allocate $1 billion for rooftop solar installation on low-income homes over the next ten years. Funds will be drawn from a statewide greenhouse gas cap-and-trade program and will provide $100 million in annual solar installation incentives for the owners of affordable multifamily buildings.

Framework for the program was created by the state legislature in 2015 and is now ready for implementation. SOMAH was designed to help California meet its climate goals, help reduce energy bills for low-income residents and ensure that green energy infrastructure isn’t just for the wealthy.

A high credit score is no longer a prerequisite for solar

A recent Bloomberg article showcases a company that is achieving major gains in the solar installation market by taking on new customers that other solar installers might reject. PosiGen LLC works with lower-income customers that other companies reject, but they have had just 47 defaults out of almost 13,000 installations. At a default rate of only 0.4 percent, PosiGens low-income customers have a track record that compares positively to other companies that only serve upper-income clients.

“We want the people on disability, the people living paycheck to paycheck,” Executive Officer Thomas Neyhart told Bloomberg. “They’re the ones who can benefit the most from $50 off their monthly utility bill.” Neyhart expects to add as many as 3,000 homes this year.

PosiGen captured 80 percent of Louisiana’s rooftop solar market by helping rebuild blighted parts of New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina. The firm has since expanded to Connecticut, Minnesota and New Jersey.

New Hampshire Nonprofit launches Solar Shares

Puget Sound Energy funds solar projects for local charities

Puget Sound Energy (PSE) announced recently that they will be giving five organizations in its service area the gift of solar energy. The recipients are organizations that are either food distribution centers or emergency warming shelters in their respective communities.

PSE is donating $350,000 to install solar panels at Northwest Harvest in Kent, Community Action of Skagit County, Island Senior Resources, Salvation Army Bremerton and the Upper Kittitas County Senior Center. All five projects will be installed by June.

“Whether it’s providing food or emergency shelter, the organizations that were selected have a history of helping people in their communities, which is aligned with what’s important to PSE,” said Bob Stolarski, PSE director of Customer Energy Management & Renewables. “We’re excited that funding these solar projects will help reduce the energy costs for our recipients, so they can put more money towards supporting their core mission while helping to reduce their carbon footprint.”

The grants will allow each organization to meet at least 10 percent of their load with solar energy. Not only will these organizations receive energy savings but eight years of renewable energy production incentive payments from the state.

“Northwest Harvest is very appreciative of this grant from PSE,” said Thomas Reynolds, Northwest Harvest’s CEO. “We know that for every dollar we can save in keeping our lights on and our food cold, is an extra dollar that goes toward helping feed those in our community who are suffering from hunger.”

A little solar power is a big improvement for Berkeley homeless

Sam Clune was a mortgage broker until he lost his home in Albany, New York, in 2009. He migrated to California in a camper outfitted with solar panels, until he lost the van due to expired smog permits. Now Clune lives in a homeless camp in Aquatic Park in Berkeley. Despite the difficult circumstances, Clune has used his knowledge of solar tech to help his fellow homeless residents.

Sam Clune’s dog, Trouble, watches him clean the solar panels he installed at his homeless camp, Thursday, Dec. 21, 2017, in Emeryville, Calif. (Karl Mondon/Bay Area News Group)

According to the San Jose Mercury News, Clune has installed donated solar panels at three different homeless encampments in Berkeley.

“It allows you to charge your phone and your computer,” Clune said of the 915-watt setup at Aquatic Park, consisting of three solar panels, a controller, four golf cart batteries and lots of wiring — “Here every tent has an extension cord running to it,” he said.

“The big difference is not what you can do with electricity. It’s what you do not have to do,” Clune said. “Instead of sitting in a coffee shop for three hours a day charging stuff, building your whole day around it, we can now accomplish something else with our day.”

Over at the Adeline Street camp, resident Karma Bear seconded Clune’s observation:

“Instead of going to the library, where there are 90 homeless people trying to charge their phones at one time, we can charge up as many as we need here, up to 10 or 12 a day,” Bear said.

By providing electricity for charging devices, Clune is helping residents to get access to employment information, health resources, and emergency services.

The post New Solar Opportunities Are Benefiting Lower-Income Families appeared first on Solar Tribune.

Across the nation, both public and private schools are installing solar panels. For schools with tight budgets, solar is making economic sense, while also providing a unique learning tool. Power-purchase agreements and other financing options are keeping up-front costs low, and imaginative installations are providing new and different ways of maximizing the benefits the school receives.

The Solar Foundation (the research partner of the Solar Energy Industry Association) released a report in 2014 entitled Brighter Future: A Study on Solar in U.S. Schools. Their report included these findings:

• In 2014, there were 3,752 K-12 schools with solar installations, meaning nearly 2.7 million students attend schools with solar energy systems.
• The 3,727 PV systems have a combined capacity of 490 megawatts (MW), and generate roughly 642,000 megawatt-hours (MWh) of electricity each year, equivalent to $77.8 million worth of utility bills and enough clean, renewable energy to offset 50 million gallons of gasoline.
• Solar potential remains largely untapped. Of the 125,000 K-12 schools in the country, up to 72,000 schools (60%) can “go solar” cost-effectively. Approximately 450 individual schools districts have the potential to save more than $1 million over 30 years by installing a solar PV system.

Stories of new solar school projects are popping up in the news every day, and we would love to see the Solar Foundation release an updated report on solar schools in the US. In the meantime, Solar Tribune offers a showcase of just a handful of the schools who are putting the sun to work for their students in 2017.

Granada High School: Livermore CA

Granada High School in Livermore California will soon be flipping the switch on a solar array that is the first of twelve solar projects slated for the school system. When completed, the twelve arrays are expected to save the school system $16 million in electricity bills over the next 20 years.

Deputy Superintendent Chris VanSchaack told the East Bay Times that the solar panels will not only be providing power to their facilities, but they will act as shade structures over playgrounds and parking areas. “That’s one of the things we’ve been working on over the last several years is just providing more shade,” VanSchaack said. The extra shade will keep cars cooler in parking lots and provide sun cover over playgrounds at the elementary and middle schools.

Solar panels are under construction at Granada High School. (Photo by Nora Heston Tarte)

Rochester Schools: Rochester, New Hampshire

Portsmouth, New Hampshire-based solar installation company SunRaise has been working with the Rochester school system since 2015, when they installed an 86-kilowatt array at East Rochester Elementary School. Since then, four more solar projects have been installed on the rooftops of Spaulding High School, Richard W. Creteau Technical Center, McClelland Elementary School, and Rochester Middle School.

Bobby Lambert, SunRaise co-founder and vice president of finance, told Fosters.com that since his company owns the arrays and sells the power to the schools,  the department is benefiting from a per kWh price that is lower than retail market cost with an annual escalation of 2 percent through its power purchase agreement and a 20-year contract.

“We finance the system and own it, with no money down, and then sell them the power generated at a discounted rate,” Lambert said.

photo: revisionenergy.com

Valley Elementary School, Bath County, Virginia

Valley Elementary School is now home to Virginia’s largest school solar array and is the first school in the state to go 100% solar.  The project came together, in part, because of BARC Electric, who arranged to get the system in with no upfront costs to the school.

Governor @TerryMcAuliffe says renewable energy is what got @Facebook to come to Virginia @ABC13News pic.twitter.com/fNn28SGrEC

— Annie Andersen (@Annie_Andersen) October 25, 2017

“BARC has partnered with us now, and increasingly more and more and larger ways,” says Bath County School Superintendent Sue Hirsh. “So it’s nice to be able them a partner in what we’re accomplishing and what they’re accomplishing.”

Superintendent Hirsh isn’t the only public official in the state who sees the potential of solar energy. Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe is also a big fan of renewable energy and has spoken glowingly of the possibilities of job growth through education about solar and training in the solar field.

“I have thousands and thousands of jobs open today in Virginia in the renewable energy space, So if we can start our children at a young age, beginning in the kindergarten and up, through 12, thinking about renewable energy and getting them interested in it – because we have plenty of jobs.”

 

Queens Creek Elementary, Swansboro, North Carolina

It’s not only school administrators and public officials who think that solar energy is good for schools. In Onslo County North Carolina, a group of forward-thinking elementary school students was the driving force behind the solar installation at Queens Creek Elementary School’s “Green Dream.” A team of eleven fourth and fifth graders launched the initiative, and some of them, now in high school, returned recently to see the fruit of their labor.

Swansboro High School students Erica Miller and Christian Davis photo: jdnews.com

“One day they came to me with an idea, a grand idea, not to save the world but to make our corner of the beautiful state a better place,” Queens Creek Principal Elain Justice said as she introduced the students.

A recent ribbon-cutting ceremony was held by the school in conjunction with NC GreenPower and other project partners.  Queens Creek is the eighth solar PV system as part of the NC GreenPower pilot Solar Schools Program started in 2015.

Paloma Elementary School, San Marcos, California

Elon Musk’s Tesla is getting into all aspects of solar and energy storage, and schools in San Marcos California will soon be the latest project for the alternative energy giant.

Tesla installers at work photo: www.trbimg.com

The San Diego Union-Tribune reports that Tesla will install, operate and maintain the equipment, and the district will purchase power at reduced rates, saving an estimated $30 million over the 20-year contract.

According to Mark Schiel, assistant superintendent of business services, in addition to stretching its budget, the panels will provide shade, reduce the district’s carbon footprint and potentially provide instructional material and data for classroom lessons on alternative energy.

“You’re pulling yourself off the grid, and reducing your footprint on the electricity grid, and converting the sun that’s already coming down into a viable energy source,” Schiel said. “While they produce solar for the district, they produce shade. We’re able to put carports in our parking lots. It’s creating shade structures that students can play under, study under, or eat lunch under.”

Good Counsel Learning Center, Mankato, Minnesota

Unlike the other schools in this article, this school is not in the sunny and warm south or west, but way up North in Minnesota, The School Sisters of Notre Dame operate the Good Counsel Learning Center near Mankato, where they tutor K-12 students. And adults in subjects ranging from reading or math to study for the citizenship exam.

photo: http://www.ktoe.com

The nuns are preparing to install a large project on their campus, but they are not solar newbies. They had panels installed on their health care facility in 2014. Next, they agreed to host a 907-kilowatt photovoltaic array on former farmland on the campus that went online in the fall of 2015.

Two years later, Innovative Power Systems of Roseville is beginning construction on a 1.3-megawatt solar array with roughly 40,000 solar panels capable of creating enough energy to power 165 average Minnesota homes.

“To be able to collaborate with others is a great gift,” said Sr. Mary Kay Gosch, campus administrator of the provincial headquarters on Good Counsel hill. During a ground-breaking ceremony Wednesday, Gosch said the nuns feel a moral obligation to support non-polluting sources of energy. “We all take seriously the words of good old Pope Francis, who said all of us ‘have the responsibility to hear the cry of the earth,'” she said.

The post Sun-Powered Schools appeared first on Solar Tribune.

A report issued by the Trump administration in March promised a more aggressive approach to unfair international trade practices, including expanded use of  Section 201 of the Trade Act of 1974. Under Section 201, the President may impose sanctions to protect American businesses from dumping low-cost products on the U.S. market.The report refers to this as a “vital tool for industries needing temporary relief from imports to become more competitive.” Section 201 was most famously used by the steel industry in 2002 to obtain a three-year moratorium on imported steel.

Bankrupt Manufacturer Seeks Sanctions

Solar cell manufacturer Suniva, which declared bankruptcy last week, is now looking for the relief promised by the administration under Section 201. Because Chinese manufacturers of solar panels have flooded American markets with panels at prices too low for U.S. manufacturers to compete, Suniva filed a petition with the Trade Commission seeking “… a recommendation to the President of four years of relief of an initial duty rate on cells of $0.40/watt, along with an initial floor price on modules of $0.78/watt. Petitioner also seeks other equitable remedies that will effectively assist the domestic industry to make a positive adjustment to import competition. Finally, petitioner seeks a recommendation from the Commission to the President that the United States negotiate with trading partners to address the global supply imbalance and overcapacity in CSPV cells and modules.” This will  “…allow the domestic industry to survive long enough that it can benefit from actions of the U.S. government, and foreign governments and producers to address the massive excess global capacity that has depressed global CSPV cells and modules prices to unsustainable levels.”

Experts React to Filing

Jade Jones, a senior solar analyst with GTM Research, explained the impact on module pricing: “That would bring us to module price levels seen in the last oversupply cycle. So similar to prices in 2012. That would also make the U.S. the highest priced market in the world, with module prices more than double other regions.”

In a statement from CEO Abigail Ross Hopper, the Solar Energy Industries Association reacted negatively to the action.  “We strongly urge the federal government to find a resolution that bolsters the competitiveness of American solar cell and panel manufacturing, which employs approximately 2,000 people in the U.S., without erecting new trade barriers. SEIA opposes any resolution that restricts fairly-traded imports of solar equipment through new tariffs or other barriers that endanger the livelihoods of the 260,000 American solar workers and their families living in every state in the Union.”

Prepare for Irony

The irony of this case is not lost on observers of the solar industry and international trade. What we are looking at is not merely a case of an American manufacturing company standing up to Chinese dumping of cheap solar panels on the U.S. market. That battle was fought in 2012, and the commerce Department slapped Chinese manufacturers with tariffs of as much as 36% for their unfair practices. This case is very different.

This action would COST American jobs, not protect them.

As stated by the Solar Energy Industry Association, the jobs in the U.S. solar industry are in installation and operations, not in manufacturing. American solar manufacturing, like most other manufacturing industries, is not doing well in the states. They cannot compete with cheap and exploitative labor practices overseas. Installation, however, cannot be outsourced. Additional sanctions against Chinese panels would only delay the inevitable collapse of a non-competitive industry while damaging a flourishing one.

Suniva in NOT American-owned. It is owned by the Chinese.

To add insult to injury, Suniva is not even owned by Americans. Shunfeng International Clean Energy Ltd. acquired 63 percent of Suniva in 2015. Shunfeng (whose subsidiary Suntech took a major hit in the anti-dumping action of 2012 and went bankrupt in 2013)  purchased the troubled solar company in a clear attempt to do an end-run around anti-dumping regulations while tapping into superior U.S. research and development. The strategy backfired though, and Shunfeng has recently upgraded its reported loss in 2016 of around US$133 million to US$348 million.

It doesn’t take a genius to see that Chinese companies are playing both sides of the fence in the U.S. solar market. Chinese money is so deeply embedded in the U.S. economy that any sanctions on the part of the current administration could have countless unanticipated consequences. This may explain the softening of the hard-line rhetoric on the part of the President- and his new found friendship with the Chinese leaders.

The post Suniva Lobbies Trump for Protection From Chinese Solar Imports appeared first on Solar Tribune.

San Diego Gas and Electric (SDG&E), Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E) and Southern California Edison (SCE) are all proposing new rate structures that will move on-peak rates to later in the day, reducing the value of solar produced during the sunniest hours of the day. In California, real-time wholesale energy prices often hit zero during the day while the need for energy at night can spike them to as high as $1,000 a megawatt hour.

In testimony submitted as part of SDG&E’s time-of-use rate proposal,  California Solar Industry Association (CALSEIA) member Kevin Weinberg, commercial sales manager for Baker Electric, pointed out that some commercial solar customers could see a 9 percent to 22 percent reduction in bill savings due to the loss of premium pricing during high-sun hours. Weinberg stated that this move  “could put a lot of customers underwater with their power-purchase agreements, leases, loans and property-assessed clean energy assessments,” he wrote.

The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) will grandfather existing solar customers for up to five years for residential systems and 10 years for commercial, industrial and institutional systems before switching them to the new rates, which will allow the systems to payback at the rates they were financed at.

This action on the part of California utilities is part of a nationwide trend to punish small indie solar producers and discourage new installations while allowing the utility companies themselves to develop large-scale solar projects and retain control over electrical generation. Their slavish devotion to out-dated central station generation models is driving new indie solar technology development, and the results may be more and more households and businesses choosing to keep their solar-generated electrons stored on-site, reducing their need for grid power even more. However, the utilities are not oblivious to that fact, and are looking ahead to capitalizing on battery storage as well, as soon as the early adopters bring the price down.

SDG&E has proposed a pilot project and a special tariff that would reward battery system users for letting the utility company  control the storage system and use it as part of its overall system balancing strategy, which may appeal to some customers. The Wall Street Journal recently reported that  PG&E, Edison International and Sempra Energy are testing battery storage to create “virtual power plants” that manage green power and feed it into California’s power grid.

Meanwhile, the CPUC is itself encouraging solar storage. The CPUC’s Self-Generation Incentive Program (SGIP) provides rebates for qualifying distributed energy systems installed on the customer’s side of the utility meter.  According the the CPUC website, the planned reopening of SGIP to energy storage applicants is due to occur in mid-April or early May 2017. Once reopened, SGIP will reserve 75% of its incentives for energy storage projects and 25% of its incentives for generation projects. 15% of the energy storage reservation will be reserved for residential energy storage projects less than or equal to 10kW in size, and 40% of the generation reservation will be reserved for renewable generation projects.

Many storage companies are anticipating the reopening of the SGIP. In a press release from  SimpliPhi Power and CivicSolar, they announced their partnership to bring new energy storage solutions to residential installers in California. The AccESS all-in-one-box storage system from SimpliPhi is now available from CivicSolar.

“Because of the inherent safety and non-toxicity of SimpliPhi’s lithium ferrous phosphate chemistry and proprietary battery architecture and management, the AccESS allows installers to eliminate the complexities of ancillary equipment necessary for thermal monitoring. They can now standardize on an integrated solution without the risk of thermal runaway or fire characteristic of cobalt-based lithium batteries and safely install energy storage inside or outside the home,” said SimpliPhi CEO Catherine Von Burg. “CivicSolar, like SimpliPhi, believes in empowering customers to make informed decisions about their power storage and generation needs with systems that are dependable, safe and enduring; without having to wait for ambiguous product availability dates that have not been deployed or validated through years of performance and field tests.”

Ms. Von Burg is obviously taking a shot at Tesla, another major player in the California storage scene. Tesla has made news in recent months by building a large storage facility for SCE comprised of their large-scale “Powerpack” batteries. Tesla’s “Powerwall” residential-scale system has yet to gain widespread adoption.

The post California Is Becoming the Solar/Storage Test Bed appeared first on Solar Tribune.

Based in Oakland, California, GRID Alternatives is a non-profit organization that brings together community partners, volunteers and job trainees to implement solar power and energy efficiency for low-income families. They have a history of successful projects in California and were in the middle of installing 50 rooftop systems in the Imperial Irrigation District’s (IID) service territory, when IID’s 5% net metering cap kicked in and stalled the project. GRID Alternatives was only able to complete 18 of the 50 projects when the cap put a stop to the project.

Thankfully, microinverter pioneer Enphase Energy has a solution. Enphase was already a partner with GRID Alternatives on many of their low income and job training programs, and Enphase saw this setback as an opportunity. By adding storage to the new systems, this new solar-plus-storage project is forecast to cut a low-income customer’s monthly energy bill by 45% and save US$810 annually, according to the companies. In addition, the system is claimed to produce more power than it consumes for around 10 of 12 months.

Introduced last year as a part of their “Home Energy Solution”, their AC battery storage system  is a small, modular lithium-ion-based storage system that is both affordable and expandable. Although Enphase has struggled in the market recently, investor sites like Seeking Alpha are taking note of Enphase’s impressive innovations and successes with lower-end battery storage systems they have test-marketed in Australia. Despite the hype around Tesla’s Powerwall, Enphase is quietly eating Tesla’s lunch, increasing market share quarter-over-quarter, and in California alone, to an impressive 30%.

The GRID Alternatives program is the perfect American testbed for the AC battery. Utility companies around the country are capping net metering, and California is among the first states to see those caps taking effect. The market for storage is taking off, and innovators like Enphase and Grid Alternatives are among the first out of the gate, seeing storage not just as a boutique product for environmentally-conscious early adopters, but as a real cost-saving alternative for budget-conscious homeowners.

The work that Enphase is doing with GRID Alternatives is not just charity work, though. GRID Alternatives is America’s largest non-profit solar installer bringing clean energy technology and job training to low-income families and underserved communities through a network of community partners like Enphase,  GRID has installed 5,400 rooftop solar systems with a combined installed capacity of 18.5MW, saving $136 million in lifetime electricity costs, preventing 426,000 tons of greenhouse gas emissions, and providing over 21,000 people with solar training. “Continuing our partnership with GRID Alternatives exemplifies Enphase’s commitment to putting clean, affordable energy on rooftops across America,” said Jeff Loebbaka, senior vice president of global sales, marketing and support for Enphase. “We’re also proud to play a role in the job training of underserved communities who otherwise may not be able to join the transition to clean energy.”

Meanwhile, the utility companies may be shooting themselves in the foot by increasing the demand for storage systems by capping net metering. It will be up to them to avoid underestimating the enthusiasm for solar again, and realizing all of the systems benefits that they can receive if they choose to. Meanwhile, innovators like Enphase and GRID will continue pushing out beyond the status quo, whether the utilities like it or not.

The post California Solar + Storage Project Will Be A “Win-Win” appeared first on Solar Tribune.

On January 1st of this year, breitbart.com pronounced “Peak Solar Hits California.” The use of the term “peak solar” has been thrown around recently by those who are trying to confuse readers with an apples and oranges comparison to the concept of “peak oil.” What we are seeing in the solar industry is, in fact, the exact opposite of peak oil. As we reach peak oil, more and more money and energy are needed to extract less and less usable oil. What we are seeing in solar is a plateau where a large bulk of infrastructure has been put in place and is continuing to produce cheaper and cheaper energy. If California has reached a peak, it is “peak distribution.” Unlike oil, the resources are not running out… the infrastructure is.

The obvious reason for the 2016 dip in installed solar capacity in California as compared to other states was the uncertainty surrounding the reauthorization of the federal investment tax credit (ITC.) A large number of projects were rushed to completion in 2016 in other parts of the country, while California had completed record numbers of projects in 2015 due to state requirements for increased renewable generation.

The real reason for the slower growth in California installations is the fact that California has lead the nation in early adopters of indie and rooftop solar, and naturally, that market is reaching saturation. The “low hanging fruit” has been picked in California, and focus is moving to the new technology that can make solar practical for the next tier of renewable energy adopters. Meanwhile, utility companies are rushing to catch up and modernize their systems to accommodate more new solar.

Utilities Gain Grid Services From Maturing Solar Industry

A recent study from the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Labs (NREL), California Independent Systems Operator (CAISO) and solar generation owner First Solar.According to the report:

“ As the electricity grid transforms into a greener grid, operational challenges are surfacing. The CAISO is experiencing significant ramping needs during sunrise and sunset, as well as periods of oversupply conditions, especially pronounced during weekends when electricity demand is low and renewable production is high. These effects are primarily due to a large amount of solar resources connected to the transmission grid. The ISO is also seeing peak net-load demand on the system shifting towards the hours after sunset, which intensifies resource ramping needs in the afternoon when the system is losing solar production.

The test demonstrated that the advancement in inverter technology now allows renewable resources to provide essential reliability services similar to traditional resources using fossil fuels. The test was important because it shows that the advancement in inverter technology now allows renewable resources to provide essential reliability services, which means that with the right type of power control technology, renewable resources can help support further integration of renewable resources on the system. This is important to meet the 50-percent RPS target and beyond.”

The Sierra Nevada Brewery recently added Telsa Powerpack storage.

California Businesses Take The Lead In Solar Storage

The next step in the solar industry’s march toward a cleaner future is the implementation of energy storage systems. As usual, California is taking the lead, with an increasing number of industries joining the ranks of early technology adopters.

This week, Sierra Nevada Brewing Company announced that it has installed 500 kilowatts/1 megawatt-hour of Tesla Powerpack batteries at its Chico, California brewery. Sierra Nevada is the nation’s top-selling craft brewery, producing nearly 1 million barrels of beer a year, with more than $200 million in sales. The new Tesla storage system buffers the company from high demand charges and substantially reduces peak demand on the local grid.

According to the Aquion Energy website: “Alpha Omega, a family-owned winery in the Rutherford Bench area of Napa Valley, announced today that it has placed into operation a 400 kilowatt (kW) solar and 580 kilowatt-hour (kWh) battery microgrid system that includes a first-of-its-kind, fully integrated solar and battery facility back-up power system. This groundbreaking microgrid system, which encompasses solar power generation, energy storage and demand management, is the largest commercial microgrid system to date for a Napa Valley winery and in all of Pacific Gas and Electric Company’s 70,000-square-mile service area in northern and central California, according to renewable energy developer Blue Sky Utility, which handled the project.”

It is quite obvious to anyone observing the rapid advances in solar technology that the 2016 California cool-down is more-than-likely a settling-in to an extended period of sustainable growth.

The post Has California Reached “Peak Solar?” Not Even Close. appeared first on Solar Tribune.

A relative newcomer in the development of utility-scale solar projects, 8 Minute Energy is claiming that it’s latest project is producing power at a price well below that of coal and even natural gas. Springbok 2 is a 155 megawatt plant AC/191 MW DC project located in Kern County, about 70 miles north of Los Angeles. Springbok 2 has come on line producing power at just $58.00 per megawatt-hour. Located on approximately 700 acres of abandoned farmland taken out of production more than 20 years ago, the project is creating an estimated 300 direct and 400 indirect jobs during construction in Kern County. The amount of greenhouse gas emissions expected to be avoided each year through operation of the projects is comparable to removing 111,000 cars from the road according to 8 Minute Energy’s press release.

Obviously, this is all great news. Solar advocates are pointing at Springbok 2 as a clear example that solar has reached maturity, and in a time when the incoming administration is claiming that solar is expensive and inferior to coal, these numbers offer indisputable evidence. But how are these new, low, low cost estimates generated?  The answer is LCOE.

Levelized Cost of Electricity (LCOE) and its limitations

Levelized cost of electricity (LCOE) is often cited as a convenient summary measure of the overall competiveness of different generating technologies. It represents the per -kilowatt hour cost (in real dollars) of building and operating a generating plant over an assumed financial life and duty cycle. Key inputs to calculating LCOE include capital costs, fuel costs, fixed and variable operations and maintenance (O&M) costs, financing costs, and an assumed utilization rate for each plant type.

The importance of the factors varies among the technologies. For technologies such as solar and wind generation that have no fuel costs and relatively small variable O&M costs, LCOE changes in rough proportion to the estimated capital cost of generation capacity. For technologies with significant fuel cost, both fuel cost and overnight cost estimates significantly affect LCOE. The availability of various incentives, including state or federal tax credits, can also impact the calculation of LCOE. As with any projection, there is uncertainty about all of these factors and their values can vary regionally and across time as technologies evolve and fuel prices change. It is important to note that actual plant investment decisions are affected by the specific technological and regional characteristics of a project, which involve numerous other factors not reflected in LCOE values. The projected utilization rate, which depends on the load shape and the existing resource mix in an area where additional capacity is needed, is one such factor. The existing resource mix in a region can directly impact the economic viability of a new investment through its effect on the economics.

Even former solar-haters are coming around to the idea that these numbers are legit. Forbes magazine, traditionally a bit of a solar-bashing publication, ran an article just two years ago by William Pentland entitled Levelized Cost Of Electricity: Renewable Energy’s Ticking Time Bomb? In which he concluded that; “… LCOE is like a bad line of code in a software program used to develop other software programs. It has dangerously skewed investors’ understanding of the economics of generating electricity from renewable energy resources. It has also had perverse and difficult to undo impacts on local, state and federal energy policies.” A year later, Forbes was acknowledging  the writing on the wall, pointing to a report from Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, finding that under power purchase agreements signed this year, developers will deliver power from large utility-scale solar plants will be selling at below the price of electricity from natural gas by 2021. Between 2017 and 2040, the lifetime of the solar plants, the average levelized cost of power from these solar plants will come to $42.1 per megawatt hour, wrote Mark Bolinger and Joachim Seel, versus $48.1 for the cost of gas alone.
It’s going to be very, very hard for fans of fossil fuels to put the solar genie back in the bottle, even if utility company lobbyists manage to cut existing incentives. The market has spoken, and solar will gradually take the place of coal, replacing dirty, dangerous jobs with safer, higher paying jobs, while reducing emissions and creating a more robust energy grid.

The post California Solar Farm Produces Power At Record Low Price appeared first on Solar Tribune.

Pacific Gas and Electric  provides service to more electric customers than any other utility in the country, so when they announce that they are now receiving 5% (approximately 2.4 Gigawatts) of their generation from independently owned rooftop solar, it is a BIG deal. Not only because it represents the ongoing success and growth in the solar market, but because it marks the end of net metering for PG&E customers who wish to own new solar arrays.  It marks another milestone along the road from independent early adopters to large-scale central station solar generation, but it by no means means an end to rooftop solar.

In January 2016, solar advocates and California’s utility companies debated the future of net energy metering (NEM) before the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) and reached a compromise that allows existing solar owners to continue to receive retail credit for the power that they provide to the grid for 20 years from the commissioning of their system. New solar customers, however, will have to pay a one-time fee, estimated at $75 to $150, to connect their system to the grid. They also will face increased monthly charges to pay for costs shared by most utility customers, such as subsidizing electricity bills for low-income households. Those increased charges will add about $5 to a typical solar homeowner’s monthly bill.

Finally, to pay for the energy they still use from the grid, new solar customers will switch to “time of use” electricity rates, which charge different prices at different times of day.  PG&E is the second California utility to have the new “NEM 2.0” rules kick in- San Diego Gas and Electric Co. was the first utility to hit that mark, reaching it in June.

PG&E, which serves most of Northern and Central California, now has more than 275,000 customers with their own solar arrays. Another 6,000 hook up every month. That’s more than any other utility in the United States, according to the company, so it isn’t surprising that they are one of the first to move away from the existing net metering model. NEM was vital to allowing early adopters fair access to the grid, but times have changed. The installed cost of solar has dropped and new financing and technological alternatives are making traditional net metering less essential. NEM 2.0 is designed to allow the utility companies to manage the distributed energy sources (DES) like indie and rooftop solar in a way that more closely matches demand.“The lead-up to the transition has been smooth. There was not a big surge in interconnections as PG&E approached the cap, so the transition did not come suddenly and catch customers off guard,” notes Brad Heavner, policy director of the California Solar Energy Industries Association (CALSEIA), which led the fight to protect NEM against utility opposition. Heavner added, “The industry should be prepared for some hesitation in the market as the new tariff sinks in, but I expect it to be short-lived because NEM 2.0 continues to offer substantial value to most customers.”

CALSEIA estimates the combined impact for a typical residential solar customer will be in the neighborhood of $10.00 per month compared to NEM 1.0, so the new rules will not be a deal breaker for most customers looking to go solar.

The real question mark in the NEM 2.0 plan lies in the time-of-use (TOU) rate requirements. TOU rates are designed to discourage use of electricity during peak demand hours, usually in the afternoon when air conditioning demand is the highest. For solar customers currently, TOU works to their advantage, as peak demand comes at the time of day that coincides with peak solar generation. However, if peak periods shift to the evening hours, solar customers will be selling low and buying high.

According to Solar Industry Magazine,  Each of the California investor-owned utilities has proposed evening peak hours due to shifts in system peak caused by solar already on the grid – both utility-scale and distributed. Pacific Gas & Electric’s (PG&E) main residential TOU rate already has a 3:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. peak period. San Diego Gas & Electric (SDG&E) has proposed moving its peak period to 4:00 p.m. to 9 p.m. Depending on the specifics of the rates set by the CPUC, additional expenses may affect solar users.

However, the real game changer when it comes to TOU will be the increased use of energy storage and battery technology. Original net metering rules may have worked for several decades as solar came of age, but look for NEM 2.0 to become obsolete in a much shorter time. Those who are keeping their eyes on the rise of storage are already thinking about NEM 3.0.

The post PG&E Hits 5% Indie Solar– New Fees Kick In appeared first on Solar Tribune.

So the utility is exploring the potential of energy storage by proposing, as part of its recently published distribution resource plan, a pilot program, called the residential energy storage rate program, which would provide households and small businesses that generate solar power an incentive for the purchase of large, grid-connected batteries.

The residential energy storage rate proposal differs from similar projects virtually everywhere else in that SDG&E won’t own the batteries it is testing. The utility would take control of the customer’s storage system’s charge and discharge functions at certain times of day. As SDG&E says, “This pilot provides an opportunity to test the ability of customer-owned, behind-the-meter storage assets to potentially defer circuit upgrades (e.g., re-conductor or new circuit extensions).” Put another way, customers’ batteries might save the utility the cost of making infrastructure upgrades as often as it does now, and such savings would be shared with the utilities’ shareholders.

According to SDG&E officials, the three keys to the program’s success would be: 1) if the rate savings are high enough to attract customers; 2) if the utility could make use of the batteries often enough and during the appropriate times of day; and 3) if the utility could reach an arrangement with companies (e.g., SolarCity, Tesla) to offer customers third-party-funded batteries at no upfront cost. (At the same time, as a kind of experimental control, SDG&E has proposed a separate pilot project involving batteries it manages itself, so as to compare and contrast the two programs.)

The plan would be advantageous for SDG&E customers, who now pay the highest electricity rate among the major utilities in California: 23 cents/kWh. It would be advantageous for the utility as well, because, according to a new report, “The Economics of Load Defection,” it is vital for the survival of utilities to adopt new business models, even if they succeed in efforts to limit net metering or establish fixed fees for solar in their service areas.

“This is a little ray of light through the darkness of the traditional utility business model,” said James Fine, senior economist with the Environmental Defense Fund. “It’s a new way to sustain and support the utility operations, to get away from the incentive to put more steel in the ground.”

The post San Diego Battery Storage Tariff May Be Good for Solar Customers appeared first on Solar Tribune.

The recent problems began with news of a cooling Chinese economy, and this is important to solar watchers for a number of reasons. Although no one can say for sure how long the stock sell-off will last, some solar market watchers are looking at the implications for the solar industry in both the near and long term. Many investors are watching companies like Trina solar, who are being dragged down with the rest of the market, as good opportunities to buy and hold. Professional investors at Seeking Alpha believe that Trina, Junko and other Chinese solar manufacturers that have sound financial fundamentals and are showing growth may be looking at a strong rebound when the market finishes its correction.

One factor that has plagued solar stocks this summer is their continued association with other energy stocks. In October of 2014, we here at Solar Tribune reported on the solar industry’s struggle to educate investors and decouple solar prices from the falling price of crude oil. I wrote that “In the US, Solar competes primarily with coal-fired electricity, which supplies 39% of the nation’s energy supply. Meanwhile, petroleum supplies only 1% of US electrical generation. Petroleum prices could drop precipitously, and make virtually no dent in the price of electricity. On the other hand, solar does compete directly with natural gas, which is the nation’s #2 source of electricity, providing 27% of US electrical generation. Back in March, CNBC reported that price links between solar and crude prices had “begun to break down completely.” However, current conditions indicate that the uncoupling from petroleum is not yet complete…” Unfortunately, that decoupling process is still not entirely complete, and volatility in oil prices continues to hurt solar.

Among the bloodbath taking place on Wall Street right now, solar stocks are generally looking better than a lot of other industries. Both Trina and Jinko showed gains, as well as First Solar and Canadian solar. Commentators speculate that this stronger performance of solar among the ruins may be due in part to President Obama’s announcement of the roll out of new incentive programs for solar.

The initiatives include:

• $1 billion in additional loan guarantee for energy projects.
• Making Property-Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) financing available for single-family housing easier to invest in.
• Launching new programs to provide home owners with new tools to measure and improve the energy efficiency of their homes.
• Creating a DOD Privatized Housing Solar Challenge.
• A $24 million commitment for 11 projects in seven states to double the amount of energy existing solar panels can produce.
• Approving a transmission line to support a 485-megawatt photovoltaic facility.
• Creating an Interagency Task Force to Promote a Clean Energy Future for All Americans.
• The White House continued that its initiatives are expected to reduce emissions by 26-28 percent below 2005 levels in 2025 while also doubling energy productivity by 2030.

The other piece of the puzzle is interest rates. This will definitely have an effect on how the solar industry performs going into 2016. The Motley Fool reports: “The threat of higher interest rates, which would lead to lower returns for solar projects, has also threatened companies’ potential for expansion. Debt investors have demanded higher rates of return from SunEdison (NYSE:SUNE) and SolarCity (NASDAQ:SCTY), two of the most active solar companies in the debt markets, and that has to be a little concerning for the industry.”

Despite their grim outlook for solar, even the Motley Fool sees the stronger solar companies as good long-term investments. Ultimately, growth may slow, but look to solar companies to possibly out-perform other sectors in the months and years to come.

The post Solar and the Stock Market appeared first on Solar Tribune.

In June 2014, Richmond had greenlighted an Environmental and Community Investment Agreement (ECIA) with Chevron Richmond, through which the city will receive, over ten years, $90 million. (This agreement was a result of the planned $1 billion modernization by Chevron of its Richmond Refinery.) One third of the $90 million is slated for projects to reduce the city’s greenhouse gas emissions. The costs for the current project will be paid out of these funds.

The schedule for the installations, according the city’s contract, is as follows:

• First year (FY 2015/2016): estimated 25 solar installations
• Second year (FY 2016/2017): estimated 50 solar installations
• Third year (FY 2017/2018): estimated 55 solar installations.

Again according to the contract, the project will provide during the three years “over $2.2 million in energy cost savings for families in need, over 15,000 hours of job skill building experience in solar installation for community volunteers and job trainees, and [prevent] nearly 7,000 tons” of emissions.

The installations also require GRID Alternatives to employ trainees from RichmondBUILD, a successful local career-training program also supported by Chevron. The nonprofit will be hiring at least one RichmondBUILD trainee per project.

GRID Alternatives’ mission is “to make renewable energy technology and job training accessible to underserved communities.” It has installed well over 1,000 solar systems in the Bay Area since 2005. Since 2007, it has completed 145 installations for low-income households in Richmond.

The post Bay Area City to Add Free Solar to 130 Low-Income Homes appeared first on Solar Tribune.

The program makes solar financing easy by allowing residential homeowners to borrow the upfront costs of installing solar panels, and then to repay the loan as a line item on their property tax bills over a 20-year period. Because it is considered a special tax assessment, it remains with the property if the house is sold. And PACE can help with the California drought as well, since the program now also covers water-saving home renovations, such as systems to collect “gray water” from sinks and showers.

In California, the first commercial and residential PACE programs were inaugurated in 2008, and were first established in Berkeley about five years ago. However, it was at about that time that the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA), which regulates Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, began to oppose PACE. PACE loans are essentially attached as liens on properties. This means that, in event of foreclosure, PACE loans would have to be paid off first, which might become a major problem for the Federal government if many PACE program homes with government-sponsored mortgages went into foreclosure. So in 2010, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac announced that they would cease purchasing mortgage loans secured by properties with outstanding PACE loans.

To remedy the situation, in 2013 Gov. Brown signed into law Senate Bill 96, which established the PACE Loss Reserve Program to mitigate the risk to mortgage lenders from PACE financing. The program created a $10 million fund, designed to cover any of Fannie Mae’s or Freddie Mac’s losses attributable to PACE liens. However, a spokesperson for the FHFA was recently quoted as saying, “We have not changed our policy at all” towards PACE.

Despite concerns that the FHFA might redline entire cities or towns participating in the PACE program, however, this has not occurred, and the agency does not appear to object to PACE in cases where other lenders are willing to bear the risk of mortgages for homeowners who participate in the program. In December, San Francisco became the first large city in California to return to residential PACE financing since the program was halted. The Executive Director of PACENow, David Gabrielson, says: “State and local government sponsored PACE programs are driving economic activity, creating local jobs, and helping achieve carbon reduction and other environmental goals.”

The post Second Time Around: Bay Area Gets PACE Financing… Again appeared first on Solar Tribune.

The two institutions – California State University, Sacramento (a.k.a., Sacramento State, or CSUS) and UC Davis (UCD) – were among those that had been selected from a field of 140 entries to compete in the two-year event. It will conclude in Irvine, CA, in October.

Computer-generated model of part of the design for CSUS’ solar house, Reflect Home (from the Team Solar NEST webpage: http://bit.ly/1AICayx)

The Solar Decathlon 2015 rules require each competing team to construct a net-zero house (i.e., one that uses no more energy than it produces), which must be not only cost effective and energy efficient, but attractive. The two university projects are known as “Reflect Home” (CSUS) and “Aggie Sol” (UCD). There is no monetary prize, but only, according to Lindsey Crosby, architectural manager of the Reflect Home project, “bragging rights” for the institution that constructs the winning solar home.

The Reflect Home team’s project executive, “decathlete” Rosni Pann, said, “We wanted to reflect Sacramento not only in the house’s architecture but its openness.” Amber Archangel, reviewing the plan for the house for the website CleanTechnica, was impressed by this very aspect of it, praising its “spacious outdoor deck that expands the interior spaces and lets the light ‘cascade in,’” and noted that it had “surprisingly more livable space than we usually see in a Solar Decathlon home.”

“Sneak preview” of part of UCD’s solar house, Aggie Sol (from the Aggie Sol Facebook page: http://on.fb.me/1Q3cu6y)

Aggie Sol is an M-Power house which, so far, has involved the efforts of about 250 UCD students from various fields of study. As stated on the project website, “In designing a wooden house, we will minimize cost by using a widely available material and by tapping into an existing pool of wooden construction expertise.” Notable features of the house include a home plumbing system relying on gravity, not pumps, an all-electric HVAC system, passive heating and cooling, thick straw bale walls to retain heat, and occupancy sensors.

After Solar Decathlon 2015 ends in October, both teams have plans for the houses they are building. The Reflect Home team intends to turn their house into a sustainability learning lab, and the Aggie Sol team hopes that its house will be of use as a residence for agricultural students.

In California, the other teams competing in Solar Decathlon 2015 are: California Polytechnic State University at San Luis Obispo and, collectively, University of California at Irvine, Chapman University, Irvine Valley College and Saddleback College.

The post Two Sacramento Area Universities Compete for Solar Home “Bragging Rights” appeared first on Solar Tribune.

The Hanergy crash was just one of several high profile Chinese solar companies that have made headlines recently…and not in a good way. Recently, in its annual filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Chinese solar PV manufacturer Yingli Green Energy Holding Co. Ltd. said, “There is substantial doubt as to our ability to continue as a going concern.” Shortly after the report, Yingli stock fell to an all-time low of $0.72 after closing at $1.49 the previous day.

After the collapse of Chinese solar giant SunTech in 2013 and LDK Solar in 2014, many stock watchers are wondering if Yingli and Hanergy are headed down the same road. Yingli shows some signs of recovery recently, but Hanergy continues to plunge as regulators move in to investigate. What is going on here?

Empty Hanergy plant. photo:Bronte Capital

In a shocking report at Bronte Capital, the author posted photos of a nearly empty Hanergy factory taken just six weeks ago. “I went to visit Hanergy’s main factory in China about a six weeks ago. It was almost entirely silent. There was essentially no production of solar cells at all and the accounts that suggest significant production and sales are entirely fraudulent.”

As for Yingli, the story is not as bad, but it certainly isn’t great. Yingli is taking a beating in both the US and European market, where it is subject to anti-dumping tariffs, due to its dubious past business practices. According to the NY Times: “The (Commerce) department announced anti-dumping duties of 26.71 percent to 78.42 percent on imports of most solar panels made in China, and rates of 11.45 percent to 27.55 percent on imports of solar cells made in Taiwan. In addition, the department announced anti-subsidy duties of 27.64 percent to 49.79 percent for Chinese modules.” These tariffs, along with similar ones levied by the nations of the European Union will likely prevent Yingli from showing much in the way of growth in the years to come.

A Few Bright Spots For Chinese Solar

photo: The Guardian

Trina Solar is looking strong, announcing this week that it will be the second big name to jump into the residential lithium-ion battery business, nipping at the heels of Tesla. Tesla’s CEO Elon Musk rolled out the new “PowerWall” last month to much hoopla, but Trina’s “soft launch” of their new battery looks promising. In addition, Trina reports that during the first quarter of 2015, net revenues were $558.1 million, a decrease of 20.8% sequentially and an increase of 25.5% year-over-year. Total shipments were 1,026.2 MW, consisting of 891.7 MW of external shipments which were recognized in revenue, and 134.5 MW of shipments to the Company’s downstream power projects.

Jinko Solar also beat first quarter expectations. Jinko reported $0.88 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating estimates of $0.46 by $0.42. The company had revenue of $443.50 million for the quarter, compared to estimates of $372.17 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.20 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 36.9% on a year-over-year basis.

Several analysts have recently commented on the stock. Analysts at TheStreet upgraded shares of JinkoSolar Holding Co. from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, May 1st. Separately, analysts at Zacks upgraded shares of JinkoSolar Holding Co. from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $30.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Friday, May 1st.

ReneSola is also getting some modest love from investors. gurofocus calls ReneSola “ Good Stock To Buy For The Long-Term…Although ReneSola’s performance in the past has not been very exciting, we see it is indeed making the right moves to fuel its growth going forward.”

The bottom line seems to be, despite the horrifying headlines about Hanergy, savvy investors may still find good investments in Chinese Solar, as long as they do plenty of research.

The post What’s Going On With Chinese Solar Stocks? appeared first on Solar Tribune.

Although it would seem only natural that a sunny city such as San Diego would be a solar leader, Dan Jacobson, a program manager at Environment California, was quoted as claiming that sunshine had little to do with it. “The reason San Diego is in such good shape for solar is that [the city has] done such a good job of making it financially attractive,” Jacobson said. For example, multifamily housing complexes can gain special solar incentives, and home loans are available for the installation of solar systems that can be repaid through property tax assessments. San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer said: “Solar energy is a key element to the City’s proposed Climate Action Plan, which calls for 100 percent renewable energy use in the City by 2035.”

However, the Environmental California release also notes that utilities throughout the country are “campaigning intensely” to slow solar adoption by increasing fees for solar households, seeing the phenomenon as a “direct threat to their business model.” An executive with San Diego Gas & Electric (SDG&E), James Avery, claims that, though his utility does not oppose solar power, solar adoption makes the grid harder to run, and solar customers pay less towards maintaining it. However, this infographic by Vote Solar, based on a published report, suggests that for California energy users in general, benefits to the grid through net metering outweigh costs by over $92 million.

The post San Diego Still #2 City for Solar in U.S., But Will It Remain a “Shining City”? appeared first on Solar Tribune.

The LIWP solar panel program is administered by the California Department of Community Services and Development (CSD) and has three purposes:

• to produce greater environmental sustainability in heavily polluted communities in order to combat climate change;
• to provide cheaper energy bills for low-income residents of such communities;
• to provide local job training in solar panel installation.

A community’s eligibility for the program is determined by the California Environmental Protection Agency (CalEPA) through an analysis tool known as CalEnviroScreen 2.0, which, according to its website, determines “California communities that are disproportionately burdened by multiple sources of pollution.” Fresno was chosen to inaugurate the program because of the high number, more than a dozen, of disadvantaged and polluted neighborhoods in the city, including the downtown, south and west areas.

To implement the program, CSD partnered with the Fresno Equal Opportunities Commission (EOC), which in turn partnered with the corporation Sunrun to provide the solar systems. Brian Angus, the CEO of Fresno EOC, said: “We are helping to improve the lives of these low-income families, providing job training in solar installations and contributing to our state’s environmental goals.”

The program profiles two early recipients of the program, Fresno residents Salvador and Ricarda Mendoza. Ricarda, 61, works a low-wage job, and Salvador, 66, who is unemployed, is ill and requires very expensive medication. They applied for the program because it is projected to reduce the couple’s energy bills by 75 percent. Ricarda was quoted as saying: “I am glad, because now we will have more money for my husband’s medical expenses.”

A number of solar installation companies in Fresno are eligible for the program.

In addition to Fresno County, Sacramento, Merced, Madera, Tulare and Los Angeles counties will be served by the program.

The post Disadvantaged Households in Fresno to Get Solar… and Financial Relief appeared first on Solar Tribune.

China’s National Energy Administration (NEA), has set a new PV target for 2015, which amounts to a whopping 27% more than the 2014 target of 14GW. Also last month, it was announced that the last of Beijing’s four major coal-fired power plants will completely shut down. China Huaneng Group Corporation’s 845-megawatt power plant will close in 2016. Worldwide and domestic outrage over air-quality account for one reason for the new and ambitious moves to expand renewable energy development, but major economic factors are at play as well.

Last year, President Obama and Chinese President Xi Jinping, announced “Historic” CO2 reduction plans that would see the Chinese carbon emissions peak “around 2030” and then level out or begin to decline. President Xi also promised that by then, 20 percent of China’s energy will be renewable. Many question how effective this policy will be, as China’s emissions continue to skyrocket. Also, with the Chinese governments dictatorial authority over energy policy, why will it take so long?

For better or worse, Chinese energy policy has generally been coherent, well organized and nimbly executed. When the nation required more energy to power it’s meteoric rise as the world’s industrial powerhouse, it needed only to proclaim that new coal-fired power plants be built, unhindered by any of the types of environmental debates held in democratic governments. By the same token, those plants can be shut down and replaced by cleaner gas-fired plants and new solar generation just as quickly, without any pushback from advocates of the “free market.”

Melanie Hart, a Policy Analyst on China Energy and Climate Policy at the Center for American Progress wrote in 2012: “Those policies are often difficult to parse because China’s economic system is not like that of the United States. It is a non-market economy with a top-down, command-and-control energy planning process that is often nontransparent with even more opaque interactions between the central government in Beijing and the provincial and local governments when these policies are implemented.” Hart was writing at that time about the trade dispute over China dumping low-cost solar panels in the U.S. market and the effect it was having on fledgeling American manufacturers.

Not only has China gained global dominance in Solar manufacturing, but it used its massive, unregulated coal plants to achieve that dominance. Hart pointed out three years ago that: The problem is China is particularly good at making things cheaply. At the lower end of the value chain, that is primarily due to the country’s low labor costs and massive supply chains. Also advantageous are China’s lax labor, safety, health, and environmental standards. At the higher end, that is often because the Chinese government provides generous subsidies and other forms of support for high-technology research, development, and commercialization. Low-cost Chinese manufacturing plays a large role in driving prices down for a wide range of products, including renewable energy technologies. Chinese manufacturing also plays a large role in pricing some U.S. manufacturers out of business, with many of those manufacturers claiming that the “China price” is driven by Chinese government intervention rather than natural market forces. If the Chinese government is intervening in a way that breaks trade rules then that type of rule breaking should be remedied in some way.”

The LED screen shows the rising sun in Tiananmen Square which is shrouded with heavy smog.

Regardless of the motivations behind the rapid movement toward a solar economy, the new solar push is a win/win situation all around. If the U.S. tariff does have an impact on the Chinese solar industry, the increased domestic demand will take up the excess supply, and hopefully, the Chinese people will begin to see a bright sunrise in clearer, less smoggy skies.

The post Chinese Solar: The Sleeping Giant Is Waking To A New, Smoggy Sunrise appeared first on Solar Tribune.

The visionary entrepreneur is the CEO and of SpaceX, CEO of Tesla Motors, and chairman of the board at SolarCity, and now it looks like he may be eyeing solar energy storage as the “next big thing.” However, affordable storage has long been the holy grail of the solar industry, and has so far proven elusive. Can the man who put Paypal on the map generate enough buzz to help push solar storage out of the lab and into the marketplace at long last?

Elon Musk looks to the future.

Battery technology is certainly not a new subject of interest for the South African born wunderkind. His electric car company, Tesla Motors, has been making huge advances in battery technology in the last few years. Musk knows that, obviously, electric cars can only be considered “Green” if they use a non-polluting source of electrical generation to charge their batteries, and he also clearly understands that the same people who are buying electric cars are often the same people buying solar for their homes. According to a recent survey done by the Center for Sustainable Energy, 40 percent of America’s plug-in electric cars have been sold in California, and about half of electric vehicle owners currently have solar, or want to install it at their home or business. Electric vehicles, or “EVs” currently make up less than 1 percent of all U.S. car sales, but Musk plans to change that… and the solar industry along with it. Could a larger version of the Tesla batteries soon be powering our homes?

The traditional utility providers may not be quaking in their boots yet, but they certainly are keeping a close eye on what Elon Musk is up to. Musk has announced that he is putting his money where his mouth is, and will soon be breaking ground on a huge, 500-1000 acre, five billion dollar battery mega-plant. Texas, New Mexico and Arizona are competing ferociously to bring the project to their state, and the decision is set to be made in the very near future.

The Tesla Model S outside the factory. (AP Photo/Paul Sakuma, File)

All is not entirely rosy on Musk’s solar horizon, however. SolarCity, the giant California leasing company that Musk has taken under his wing, is under attack in the press. A recent article in The Daily Caller featured the explosive title “Study: Is Elon Musk’s SolarCity The Next Enron?” The article points to a new report by the Taxpayers Protection Alliance. The report claims that “Like Enron, SolarCity and the solar industry’s complex financing schemes could create a “bubble” that will eventually burst and leave taxpayers exposed…SolarCity is a major player in this sketchy financial game.”

SolarCity wasted no time in firing back, pointing out that “Taxpayer Protection Alliance represents the interests of monopoly utilities, and its goal is to kill one of the most free market developments in the history of United States electricity markets. SolarCity has thousands of conservative customers who believe in their right to produce their own power by putting solar panels on their roofs,” the spokesman said. “Taxpayer Protection Alliance is working to protect monopoly interests, not the public interest in more jobs and more consumer choice.”

Musk’s Tesla Battery efforts, along with his part in making SolarCity the highest profile solar provider in the nation make his companies an obvious target for the ire of the utility industry. However, consumers don’t seem to be falling for cynical claims by monopoly electrical providers that the solar industry is “attacking the free market.” In fact, no greater sign in consumers enthusiasm for solar can be found than yesterday’s news that SolarCity continues to surpass its own electricity generation records at astounding rates. According to Musk, SolarCity has exceeded the 5 Gwh per day benchmark just two weeks after reaching 4 Gwh per day of electricity generation. By comparison, In 2010 a SolarCity alone did not generate 1 Gwh per day of electricity.

It must be pointed out that Musk, Tesla and SolarCity are not the first to take on the solar storage issue, nor are they the only competitors in the current race for marketable solar storage. Also, batteries are not the only options being explored. There are several projects looking at converting solar electricity to thermal energy and storing it underground, as compressed gas or as hot water. There is even a project in which solar power is stored as molten aluminum. However, these large-scale projects feel more like the utility industries attempts to maintain hold on the central-station generating model than practical projects. It is clear that consumers would prefer to make their own power, store their own power, and interact with the utility grid, rather than being at the mercy of it.

All eyes will be on the Hawthorne Design Studio for Musk’s April 30th announcement. If it is, in fact, the release of a ground breaking residential battery, will it be a game-changer? We won’t know right away. But one thing is for sure… Twitter will be abuzz, as will Wall Street.

The post Can Elon Musk Push Solar Storage Over The Top? appeared first on Solar Tribune.

Please tell our readers a little about your background, and how you got into the solar industry.

Beth Spence: American Solar Direct

How many years have you been with American Solar Direct?

September will mark 6 years at American Solar Direct.

Tell us a little about American Solar Direct and your role there.

American Solar Direct provides a full-service solar power solution for homeowners across California. We inspire homeowners to go solar for the benefit of saving them money on their utility bills and helping them reduce their carbon footprint. As Vice President of Sales and Marketing, I work with the executive team to establish goals, plan sales and marketing strategy and then oversee our corporate team and 5 field sales offices to ensure everyone is equipped with the proper tools to meet these goals.

What do you find exciting about the projects that you are currently working on?

What I find exciting is seeing all of our collective hard work come together to support our overarching goal of providing the best residential solar solution homeowners. I work with an amazing team of capable and hard-working people and we strive to deliver the very best customer experience in residential solar. This industry is in a state of constant flux, so there’s never a dull moment!

I also find it exciting and rewarding that we get the opportunity to create meaningful work for people in their local communities through what we do. How amazing is it that when a homeowner chooses clean and affordable power, they’re also putting local residents to work in great jobs in sales, installation, customer care and administration? It’s an industry and an opportunity unlike any other in terms of what a contribution we can make to the economy, to the environment, and to families.

If you were to choose three words that you would like readers to associate with American Solar Direct and its products, what would they be, and why?

Reliable: we pride ourselves on doing the very best work in the residential solar business. Our systems perform and are backed by our guarantee.

Innovative: we stay ahead of the curve on the best equipment and financing options; we’re always looking for ways to bring more value to our customers and our employees. We also strive every day to be a little bit (or a lot!) better than we were the day before, and that means constantly innovating.

Enthusiastic: we always say that our people are our differentiator in the solar business; people can choose among many solar power providers, but we aim to be the one that builds a long-term, supportive relationship with the homeowners that choose us. We even have homeowners that have come to work for us after having a great experience with our people – that’s the enthusiastic reaction that we hope to inspire.

Where do you see American Solar Direct fitting into the solar industry now, and where would you like ASD to be in 5-10 years?

Now, American Solar Direct is a full-service major player amongst residential solar providers in California. Our explosive growth over the last few years has even been formally recognized by Inc. Magazine in 2014 (as 17th Fastest Growing Private Company according to their Inc. 5000 List) and we certainly plan to continue fueling this growth as solar continues its widespread popularity. In 5 to 10 years, I expect to that you will see American Solar Direct become increasingly visible on a national level.

Where do you see areas for growth in solar, and what are the roadblocks to achieving market growth?

Solar is a constantly evolving technology that literally knows no boundaries. Obviously, growth opportunities abound geographically where state legislatures and municipalities actively embrace it, and that progress has been increasingly rapid. We see continued development of these policies that support clean energy, bringing solar to more and more cities and states.

Political uncertainty is always a potential roadblock to solar progress; as we approach an election, there is always the possibility of a less favorable political climate for solar power. But we believe that consumer demand for clean energy will continue to create the conditions necessary to sustain continued industry growth, regardless of the outcome of elections!

If you care to, tell us a little about your passions outside of solar.

Never-ending self-improvement: reading, learning new hobbies, or continuing my education. Enjoying the California (solar producing!) sunshine outdoors. Great friends. Game of Thrones.

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Current moves on the part of utilities to centralize solar with large “solar farms” notwithstanding, solar will be considered marginal until it becomes dispatchable. That is, it needs to be available “on demand,” day or night, rain or shine, 24/7.

Flow Batteries image: pv magazine

A recent report from Deutsche Bank (DB) recently predicted that energy storage will reach a competitive price point in as little as five years. Energy storage, which DB calls the “missing link of solar adoption” says that competitive batteries will become the “killer app” and the “holy grail” of solar penetration.

“Using conservative assumptions and no incentives, our model indicates that the incremental cost of storage will decrease from ~14c/kWh today to ~2c/kWh within the next five years,” the report says. “When overall system cost decreases are considered, we believe solar + batteries will be a clear financial choice in mature solar markets in the future.”

The report points out that “Commercial customers are often subject to demand based charges, which can account for as much as half of the electric bill in some months… We think companies with differentiated battery solutions coupled with intelligent software and predictive analytics that work with the grid to avoid these charges and smooth electric demand will pave the way for mass adoption.”

One such project that was recently announced is a recent announcement by Swiss energy storage start-up Alevo Group that they will be entering into partnership with Customized Energy Solutions (CES) to deploy 200 MW of its lithium-ion-based battery systems in an undisclosed wholesale energy market in the United States.

The distributed storage projects are aimed at providing frequency regulation services through CES, which works with eight independent systems operators in North America. The battery storage projects will help the unnamed grid operator integrate renewable energy resources, including solar, into the grid. The installations are planned for the second half of 2015, a spokesman for Alevo told PV Magazine recently.

Another promising energy storage project is being launched by ViZn Energy Systems in partnership with LFC Capital. Their program will offer commercial property owners solar PV systems combined with energy storage. The availability of as much as $5 million per project is expected to accelerate the deployment of ViZn’s Z20 Energy Storage System, a zinc/iron redox flow battery.

LFC Capital’s program uses a traditional operating lease with ownership options after six and seven years. LFC also encourages the use of a follow-on loan as a way to conserve cash and maintain low monthly payments throughout an extended investment period.According to ViZn, the ideal project size is a 50 kW to 1,000 kW solar PV installation, requiring 80 kWh to 500 kWh of energy storage.

Not only are these advances in battery storage great news for utility customers who are looking for more independence from dirty coal-fired electricity and government-sanctioned monopoly utility companies, but for those in the developing world, it could be their first opportunity to have access to plentiful and high quality electricity.

A report from the London-based Climate Group and the Goldman Sachs Center for Environmental Markets titled titled The Business Case for Off-Grid Energy in India, concludes that storage will be an important component of solar home systems in the country, sales of which are expected to grow at 60 percent a year between now and 2018.

The report identifies solar and storage as a tool for lifting 360 million Indians living off-grid– around 50 percent of India’s rural population– out of energy poverty.

The need for energy storage is obvious if the solar market is to continue to grow. What is less obvious are the amazing new opportunities that will become possible for both residential customers and businesses, urban and rural residents, when storage prices reach a point where they become competitive with grid power.

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